Re: Venomous archosaurs

["Stephen Priestley" <sn2192@uniserve.com>]

Dan Bensen said:

> ability).  How would one find fossilized evidence of venom, anyway. 
Suspicious
> channels in the mouth could be used for lots of different things.  Would
there
> be any foolproof way of detecting venom (if we were really lucky, would
the
> glands fossilize like the liver of Scipionyx?)

This won't qualify as "foolproof" but here's Kemp on _Euchambersia_.
"There is a very deep recess in the side of the snout, between the single
canine tooth and the orbit. The canine has a groove down its outer side,
and the bone surrounding both the base of the tooth and the walls of the
recess is covered with a fine foramina. _Euchambersia_ appears to have
evolved a poison gland associated with a snake-like fang for administering
a venomous bite...(Mendrez, 1974a)."

I haven't seen Sues '96. Does his description of venom canals in this
archosauromorph tooth match those described by Christianne Mendrez?

Stephen Priestley